KOMU.com

mobile

Coverage You Can Count On

New bill could require rear-facing car seats for children under two

JEFFERSON CITY - A new bill could change how you buckle up your baby in the car.

The potential law would require all infants under two years old to ride in rear-facing car seats. The current law only requires children under the age of one and weighing under 20 pounds to ride in rear-facing seats.

Parents who already have their children riding in rear-facing seats said they value them greatly. Columbia resident Catherine Boose said in a recent car accident, she and her husband had to replace a rear-facing seat that had protected the 18-month baby boy.

"Definitely, rear-facing is much better," Boose said.

Xuwei Hou, another resident of Columbia and an entrepreneur of car seat safety, agrees. He said the better a child stays in a seat, the safer they will be.

"Kids are active. If they are not well-restrained, and when something bad happens, that will endanger them," Hou said.

Hou has used his passion for protecting kids in cars to not only advocate for it, but also to invent for it. With his own funding, Hou built an emergency system to alert parents if their babies are left in the car when they leave the driver's seat, or if their babies are insecure within their own car seats.

"I have three kids, [and] they are the center of my whole life. I cannot express their importance in my life," Hou said.

The bill is currently awaiting a public hearing by its special committee.